Complexifying Organisational Development
HRD IN A COMPLEX WORLD, STUDIES IN HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, M. Lee, ed., Routledge, 2003
17 Pages Posted: 13 Mar 2009 Last revised: 17 Mar 2009
Date Written: 2003
Abstract
Organisation Development (OD) is a well-established soft methodology used extensively to engineer cultural change in organisations. However, there are arguments that it is not capable of dealing with complex situations. However, it can be transformed to enable it to do this by setting into a framework defined by Viable Systems Theory (VST), itself a conceptual development of the managerial cybernetic theory that underlies the Viable Systems Model (VSM). Indeed, the relationship between traditional OD and the new form of OD is that they each belong to distinct paradigms. Indeed, paradigms metamorphose when they develop a new frame of reference, and this will be illustrated. The outcome for the new development for OD is that it will include cybernetic aspects that can improve the way that organisations can be diagnosed in the complex change situations that must be managed.
Keywords: Organisation Development, methodology, cultural change, complexity
JEL Classification: Management
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation